6-Letter Words
Lots of six-letter words are short base words with an ending attached, so this list is a natural fit for teaching the spelling rules for suffixes. The word site lists 7,064 common examples.
Opens Unscramble Words 4U, our free word-puzzle site, in a new tab. Free, with no sign-up.
What it does
The page organizes the site’s 7,064 common six-letter words by first letter, displaying a selection of at most 40 high-frequency words per letter, each with a point value. JAZZED is the top scorer, worth 32.
Just the B group includes bigger and bitten (double the final consonant), biting (drop the silent e), and babies, bodies and buried (change y to i). These are the same suffix rules students practice in elementary spelling and word study, and seeing them in a real list shows that the patterns keep coming back. The list also has many two-syllable base words, like button, bottle and bucket, that are good for practicing syllable types and division.
How to use it
- Open the list in a new tab.
- Choose a letter heading and scan its six-letter words and point values.
- Look for words ending in -ed, -er, -ing or -ies, and ask what the base word was before the suffix.
- To find six-letter words from a set of letters, open the unscrambler and pick an exact length of 6 in its More options panel.
More tips
- Bitten and button both have double letters, but only one is a base plus suffix; having students explain the difference deepens understanding.
- Use the syllable counter to check the number of syllables before dividing a word.
- Contrast bitten and biting: both come from bite, but one doubles the t while the other just drops the e. Asking students why makes a quick, rich discussion.
Ideas for the classroom and homeschool
- Grades 3–5Give partners one letter group and a three-column chart: “double”, “drop e”, “y to i”. They sort every suffixed word they find and write the base word beside it.
- Grades 3–5Play “base word detective”: read a six-letter word aloud (amused, agreed, buried) and students race to write the base and suffix on whiteboards.
- Grades 6–8Challenge students to find words in the list that look suffixed but aren’t (better, bottom, button) and explain how they can tell.
- Grades 6–8Have each student pick five words that follow a rule and five that break it, then quiz a partner.
Questions
Are all 7,064 words shown?
No. Each letter displays a selection of at most 40 high-frequency words. The unscrambler and word finder can search the rest.
What are the numbers next to the words?
Point values based on standard word-game tile scores.
Which six-letter word scores the most?
JAZZED, with 32 points.
Is there a way to see only words with a certain ending?
Yes. The words-ending-in pages group common words by their last letter and length, which helps when you want, say, words ending in s or y.
Opens Unscramble Words 4U, our free word-puzzle site, in a new tab. Free, with no sign-up.
The list comes from a general word-game dictionary, so preview it before sharing it with students.